Two (possibly) unlikely sources

As I have ramped up my work on this blog, my friends have come to see me as a bit obsessed and overwhelming in my pursuit of soccer statistics information. Often times they send me emails with the subject line "You may have heard this, but..." What's funny is that often times these emails contain links I have not read yet, simply because there is such a wealth of information out there on this topic.

I have found a common theme though - most often these links come from blogs or other sources that don't normally cover soccer statistics. They may now be covering the topic with a post due to the World Cup, or maybe they are in a related field and are simply observing how much the field is taking off. Either way, they are a bit off my radar as I am focused on soccer-specific reading.

Here are two such links that I received in the last few hours just to demonstrate the range of people getting into the discussion.

• FiveThirtyEight.com (HT: Travis): The statistics blog of politics was the main contributor to ESPN's Soccer Power Index, and has their own World Cup simulation results here. It seems as if their model is in the same vein as the Sports Club Stats sites I love so much - take performance to date, look at a statistical predictive model of future potential performance and likelihood of realizing them, and map out the statistical chances of a certain outcome happening.
• Freakonomics Blog (HT: Daniel): It's only natural that what many consider the namesake for the most popular soccer statistics book right now provides some commentary on soccer statistical theory. In this radio edition of the blog the discussion centers around studies on what stadium configurations produce the most significant home field advantage, and the reasons why a player taking a penalty kick doesn't take the best shot possible - simply shooting down the middle of the goal.

Keep the links coming. I am certain I haven't read them and would love to learn from them and possible post them here.